Summer 2017 fieldwork in Yukon’s lower Paleozoic shale basins (Selwyn basin and Richardson trough) involved participants from government geological surveys (Yukon Geological Survey, Geological Survey of Canada) and several universities (Queen’s, McGill, St. Francis Xavier, Stanford and Dartmouth College). Research interests include: 1) shale chemostratigraphy and biostratigraphy, and pyrite trace element geochemistry to characterize shale units and assess lower Paleozoic paleoenvironmental conditions and depositional controls; and 2) an assessment of hyper-enriched black shales, specifically the colloquial ‘Nick’ or ‘Ni-Mo’ mineralized Ni-Zn-Mo-PGE deposit, in order to develop internally consistent genetic and exploration models for these types of deposits. This paper describes individual research projects underway and summarizes fieldwork in summer 2017.
